One of the perks of living in the 21st century is technology. Smartphones and the gig economy together have created many new jobs that allow people to pay someone else to do everyday tasks like groceries or picking up takeout food. I’ve used Uber Eats and Postmates (now owned by the same company) countless times. RELATED: Travel Experts Reveal the Reasons They Eat at McDonald’s When They Travel
In my travel newsletter (sign up for free here), I often tell readers that instead of ordering hotel room service, they should consider ordering food from Uber Eats, Postmates, Grubhub, etc. Not only will you save money but you will most likely get much better food, something with a sense of place, and you will support local businesses.
I’ve never had any problems with my deliveries except once in a great while when a company cancels if they can’t find any drivers. But nothing major like some of my friends have experienced, like people stealing their food or worse, tampering with it.
Fortunately, I don’t personally know of anyone who has experienced the latter, which is a relief, but I’m not sure why all restaurants don’t use secure safety stickers like my local Thai restaurant. They put a heavy duty sticker with the date and time on it so you know if someone has tried to mess with your order or steal any items as the seal to the bag would be broken. But that’s another story.
Today, I want to talk about a rudimentary scheme that I recently learned about on NextDoor, the community app that people seem to either love or hate. Thanks to security cameras in a Los Angeles suburb, an Uber Eats driver was busted stealing the order he’d just delivered (he had an accomplice) and I’m betting this driver isn’t the only one doing this and that this wasn’t the only customer he’s stolen from.
See the warning and video below. “If you use Uber Eats, beware of this driver/delivery guy, Jonathan! He stole our entire order after he placed it on our patio wall and took a picture of it to say it was delivered! He has a buddy in his car get out and wait to grab the food then jump back into his car! It’s all on our cameras.”
If this has happened to you, please share in the comments and be sure to report it to Uber and the police to keep these crooks off the street.
BTW: One way to prevent this is to never have the driver drop the food off somewhere but instead, have them hand deliver it. As Tayna D commented on the post, “In my notes I say ‘hand it to me’ – never drop off – mainly because these drivers would leave my food in my DRIVEWAY- like literally in the middle of my driveway…lazy…customer support will reimburse you and take away this guys driving privileges.”
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This happened to our $45 order the other day. It’ll take 10 days to get our money back, according to UberEats. We ordered it from El Pollo Loco very close by. It was for the very hungry workers fixing up our Airbnb here in Venice Beach, California. These hungry guys had a two hour turnaround on ordering food! My wife sent me back there to redo the order. I asked the manager if Uber eats picked up, she said, “yes they did”.
Today, I went Old School and picked up their lunch myself again from the same place. I wish the UberEats concept wasn’t so flawed. Never again. #ubereats #elpolloloco #johnnyjettraveltips
Well, I learned a good tip from this article. Ask the driver to hand the order to me. I have had drivers leave the order at the wrong door, claiming that it was delivered. They take a pic of the bag, without the address number easily visible a few feet away. The pic for proof of delivery looks nothing like my doorfront and they insist that they delivered the food. My dog barks at all delivery people, so I know that if he didn’t bark, there was no visit to my doorstep. Deliver company customer service does nothing, not even responding. If I ever return to having food delivered, I will definitely instruct that it be a hand off.
Uber is a scam all together don’t do business with them. They claim that they are based in California. Lie. Claim only out source to other countries (India) for phone communication, lie. They are here to make and take American dollars. And use the American people. F Uber seriously. Try to reach out and talk to a representative that’s actually helpful or ask to talk to a supervisor. Even as a Uber driver you can’t get the help needed. The support team promises the same thing over and over with each new call never getting results.